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A review by rosedtide
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I read this book on a recommendation from a list of lgbt focused books and unfortunately on that front i was sorely disappointed. Heteronormative polyamory and unconventional marriages between m/f couples does not lgbt representation make.
The only slight hint at lgbt rep is when mike (the ai computer) switches between a "male" and a "female" personality at the request of his human friends, pretty sure it was meant by the author as a gag so alas im not counting it
I did consider putting the book down around a third of the way through because i thought it was about to turn into another one of those boring romance novels masquerading as sci-fi (granted i just find heterosexuals extremely boring to read about) but i was pleasantly surprised that the romance was not prominent at all. Although i will say that some casual sexism and comments about 15 year old girls getting married erc were hard to ignore.. The book loses at least a few points from me because of that.
The politics of the plot are quite dense and a little hard to keep track of but it was interesting enough that it kept my attention for most of it.
HOWEVER i am a big fan of stories involving sentient ai and friendship between them and humans so i couldnt help but find that aspect of the story very charming and wished there was more of it.
I did consider putting the book down around a third of the way through because i thought it was about to turn into another one of those boring romance novels masquerading as sci-fi (granted i just find heterosexuals extremely boring to read about) but i was pleasantly surprised that the romance was not prominent at all. Although i will say that some casual sexism and comments about 15 year old girls getting married erc were hard to ignore.. The book loses at least a few points from me because of that.
The politics of the plot are quite dense and a little hard to keep track of but it was interesting enough that it kept my attention for most of it.
HOWEVER i am a big fan of stories involving sentient ai and friendship between them and humans so i couldnt help but find that aspect of the story very charming and wished there was more of it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death